Maxwell Technologies Inc. announced July 30 that it has signed a long-term strategic partnership agreement with China Railway Rolling Stock Corp., subsidiary of CRRC. The agreement will examine multi-year collaboration activities between the two companies to jointly develop new application-specific, next-generation capacitive energy storage solutions that meet application requirements of CRRC-SRI’s customers in the Chinese rail market.
Capacitive energy storage technology offers high-power density performance under extreme temperatures with long operational lifetimes and is ideally suited for rail transportation applications, particularly onboard commuter rolling stock modalities such as subway and light rail. CRRC-SRI selected Maxwell based on its global leadership in developing and delivering high-quality ultracapacitor solutions proven in global transportation applications such as start-stop autos and hybrid buses, which require rapid braking, energy recuperation and power delivery. Maxwell will work closely with CRRC-SRI to develop solutions uniquely designed to address the growing Chinese rail market.
“The current expansion of rail transportation infrastructure in China will continue well into the next decade and has higher requirements on energy saving and environment protection now and in the future, particularly for onboard rail vehicles,” said Liu Baoming, chairman of CRRC-SRI. “We firmly believe capacitive energy storage technology is essential to providing solutions that meet those energy-saving and environment-protection requirements. We highly value Maxwell Technologies’ expertise in capacitive energy storage and trust its technology leadership to help us keep pace with the rate of innovation required now and into the next decade.”
“Rail transportation applications are an excellent match for ultracapacitors, and the rail market will be a significant opportunity for Maxwell,” said Franz Fink, Maxwell’s president and chief executive officer. “In China, advanced energy storage and power delivery solutions will play an increasingly important role in improving efficiencies and reducing carbon emissions. Our partnership with CRRC-SRI represents an excellent opportunity for us to generate meaningful revenue in a three-to-five-year horizon through the co-development of application-specific technology and products for the expanding China rail market.”
